Prof graded them all in one night.
102 out of 100. I’m pretty jazzed. The class average was such that I feel like this was an actual accomplishment and not just an easy test.
The 2 points were extra credit. ”Name any prokaryote by giving its genus and specific epithet.”
I wrote Vibrio cholerae, naturally.
I just finished the practice test, aced it. Feeling rather confident. Knowing how to study and wanting to learn rather than pass makes all the difference. Still, wish me luck.
Tonight we had an open lab; we could come in, practice anything we wanted, and ask questions about the upcoming test. I decided to get more work on the microscopes.
I crushed them, saw them driven before me, and heard the lamentation of their, uh, women.
I’m still not a master, but I had a much easier [...]
Thinking about taking in some samples from the compost pile to keep things interesting while I practice with the scope during open lab on Tuesday.
It’s almost funny how bouncy and grinny I get after lab. In my vast experience of two weeks, I think I really like bench work. There’s something appealing about setting up your equipment and materials in a sort of geeky mise en place and methodically going through the work.
Fixed some smears from the bugs we started growing during the last lab. All the cultures showed growth, so I guess I did wait long enough for the loop to cool off. Phew.
I finally got to use a stain(methyl blue). I know it’s a little thing, but imagine spending more than a year reading about [...]
The lecture topic was on metabolism. If you know that means the TCA cycle ad nauseum, then you pretty much know what this lecture was about. Once we got to fermentations, things got better. It’s always fun to think about just how damned versatile bacteria can be when it comes to deciding what to eat. [...]
The day job is still in crunch mode, but I got into the lab to check out the bugs I started last week.
Aside from a sad lack of pigmented colonies, it was very cool. My dish sponge sample was just totally overgrown. Lots of tiny irregular colonies everywhere. Two very small but yellow, raised, shiny [...]
My paying gig is writing programs for the government under contract. One of those contracts is coming due this week and we’re in crunch mode to add a little polish. My local group is already aware that I’m taking microbiology classes and is fine with it.
The tech lead and the guy who got the contract [...]
Tonight’s lab was a nice change after my disappointment with my performance during the intro to microscopy lab.
It was the standard ‘learn how to mix media, pour a plate, and swab something’ lab. I’ve read about it a dozen times, but one of the great things about taking classes is that I actually [...]
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